Everything to Know About New Steakhouse Evelyn, Plus March’s Other Splashy Openings

Everything to Know About New Steakhouse Evelyn, Plus March’s Other Splashy Openings

Other notable Dallas openings include a four-story restaurant Downtown and a Mexican grill on Lower Greenville.

One of the splashiest openings of the month is Evelyn, a lavish steakhouse from Reach Hospitality (The Mexican, Pie Tap Pizza, Black Tap) that opened on Wednesday, March 26. Icrave designed the massive 9,500 square foot space — it also handled fine dining chains Catch and STK — implementing lots of red velvet, grainy wood tables, and an enormous chandelier in the main dining area, known as the Piano Room. Evelyn also features a dark and moody lounge, Room Seven, and a bar called the Ruby Room. A press release states that the menu “pays homage to the essence of classic Hollywood steakhouses,” but without offering any references to which steakhouses those might have been, so we’ll just have to take their word for it. The menu features steaks, seafood, and cocktails. The much-ballyhooed signature cocktail, a $150 number cheekily called the Price of Fame, features Nolet’s Reserve Gin, dry vermouth, black truffle bitters, and caviar-stuffed olives. It is a clever use of two ingredients, truffles and caviar, frequently used to jack up the price of any dish in town, with an expensive bottle of spirits. The most head-scratching dish is the whole Maine lobster linguine that apparently is served with linguine laced in the style of a lobster’s body with lobsters accenting it, rather than nestling the lobster atop linguine — it’s a choice. There is also a bone-in veal chop, caviar service, and a cut of Japanese Miyazaki A5 wagyu that is cooked tableside over a lava rock. Now that’s showbiz.

Downtown finally sees something move into this space that’s been long-vacated by the Iron Cactus. The Chicago-based Parker Hospitality opened its 13th location of Hampton Social, on Thursday, March 20, in the four-story, 17,224-square-foot space that includes indoor and outdoor dining. Harkening to some carefree life in the Hamptons that may or may not exist, and exuding peak millennial decor, Hampton Social welcomes diners with a neon script sign that reads “rosé all day” and the requisite grass wall. Hampton-adjacent dishes include lobster rolls, served Maine-style with mayo, or warm with butter in what the restaurant refers to as”Manhattan-style” (Traditionally, its referred to as Connecticut-style). Other options include steak frites, smash burgers, and braised short ribs. It also serves brunch. The owners plan to open a private club in the building at some future point, which is an odd choice for Downtown, but sure, why not?

There’s a new smell wafting all over Lower Greenville — seriously, the grill at Ocean Ranch can be smelled all up and down the block. This Italian steak and seafood spot slipped into the space vacated by tasting menu restaurant Carte Blanche in March, hanging a yellow “Now Open” sign out front and giving the dining room a complete makeover with a wildly different vibe. Chef-partner Enrico Glaudo, a native of Italy who has been cooking around the U.S. since the early ‘90s, runs the place, according to the Dallas Morning News. Ocean Ranch serves lunch and dinner, with oysters by the dozen, a Mexican-style shrimp cocktail, wagyu tartare, blue crab cakes, lobster rolls, po-boys, an array of seafood pasta, fish and chips, and more.

Also on Greenville, taking over the spot once occupied by Desert Racer, comes a new Mexican food spot from Tim Goza and Gustavo De Los Rios. The duo, also behind Mami Coco on nearby Bryan Street, create a menu boasting loads of wood-grilled meats, with house specialties like rib-eye agua chile, beef shortribs, spiced Brasas chicken available in whole or half orders, and entrees come to the table in small, portable grills. Brunch is served Friday through Sunday, which includes chilaquiles and huevos rancheros. Goza told CultureMap Dallas the inspiration comes from Monterey-style cooking.

As a lover of empanadas, any iteration of that Argentinian treat coming to town is noteworthy. This chain from Atlanta fills a gaping hole in the empanada scene in Dallas. A partnership between Argentinian-turned-Dallasite Leticia Stortoni and founder Belén de la Cruz, the Lovers Lane outpost offers hand-sized hot pockets stuffed with ham and cheese, beef, spinach, onion, corn, bacon, and more.

Beloved by TikTok food critic Keith Lee, this nonprofit “pay what you can” model restaurant opened a second location in Arlington. The idea is simple — Taste Community aims to make nutritional meals available to all, no matter their income. Those who can afford it can pay the prices listed on the menu, or more than that, which goes back into the restaurant. Those who need to, may pay what they can afford. The Arlington location is serves meals like chicken and farro soup, a grilled mahi mahi sandwich, risotto primavera, chicken katsu, and more. It also has a kids’ menu, with classics including a cheeseburger slider, chicken fingers, and macaroni and cheese. Taste Community in Arlington is open for lunch only at this time.

Chef Scotty Scott, author of the Fix Me a Plate cookbook, opened a cheese-centric spot in Fort Worth — the name is short for Always Be Eating Fromage (er, translation: that’s “cheese” in French, y’all). The menu is driven by an intense array of grilled cheese sandwiches, including a chicken version, a beefy sloppy joe rendition, a vegetarian option featuring gouda and honey crisp apples, and one that creatively combines makes creative use of salted honey and gouda. Other sandwich options abound, including a guacamole hot dog; the Abe burger, which comes loaded with havarti; and rotating specials like the duck bacon BLT and pickled shrimp po’ boy.